Installed to HD, but can't save anything.

Forum: HD Install
Topic: Installed to HD, but can't save anything.
started by: nogoodreason

Posted by nogoodreason on July 17 2008,19:09

Hi guys,

Apologies if this is a very n00bish question; I'm new to Linux and still finding my feet.

I've dug out an old HP from my attic, formatted the hard disk (20GB) and want to make DSL the sole operating system. I partitioned the disk into 2 partitions:

hda5
300MB
Logical

hda2
19.5GB
Boot
Primary

I then selected 'install to Hard Drive' (Debian install) and installed DSL to hda5. The install worked, but every time I boot up the computer I'm required to re-enter all my settings (resolution, keyboard language, etc) and any changes I make are not saved upon shutting down. If I tick the 'backup' box when shutting down or rebooting, a warning message comes up saying 'Request to save settings, but no backup device has been selected'.

I imagine there's an easy fix, but it's slightly beyond my current level of understanding. I would really appreciate it if someone could offer me some help in what to do.

Posted by lucky13 on July 17 2008,21:52

What's on hda2? If DSL is the only OS you intend to install, why did you only set up 300MB for it? Why did you set it on a logical partition instead of primary? Why did you make the other non-DSL partition bootable if there's no OS on it? (Unrelated to this issue, why no swap?)

1. Boot it. When you can either get a console prompt or open a terminal, do this:

Code Sample

sudo fdisk -l

2. Paste the results of that back here so we can see your partitions.

You could do a frugal install and set up one swap partition, one 55MB partition for the image, and use all the rest for your /home and /opt. DSL is a lot easier to use like that because it's not Debian.

FWIW, at the present I have DSL installed as the sole OS on this particular hard drive (Debian-style). I have three primary partitions and three set up as logicals. DSL is installed on the bootable partition and I set up extra partitions for /home and other directories I wanted to be persistent and free of /. But that's a lot of work getting DSL back into Debian-shape. I recommend Debian if you want a Debian system; use DSL as a frugal install and you'll be a lot happier.

-------
FYI: you can have max four primary partitions but one of them, the fourth, can be used for logical or "extended" partitions. So if you want seven partitions you'd have hda1, hda2, hda3 as primary partitions and hda5, hda6, hda7, hda8 as extended (four isn't counted as a single partition but rather the sum of the extended partitions on it). If you're not going to use more than one or two partitions plus a swap, there's really not a good reason to set up logical partitions.

Edit: If you did a hard drive install, you don't need to do the backup. That's for frugal/USB/etc. installs. It would be worth your time to edit the command in .jwmrc (which contains the menu if you're using jwm; otherwise ~/.fluxbox/menu) so "shutdown" means "sudo shutdown -h now" and so on.

Posted by nogoodreason on July 18 2008,08:29

(And here my ignorance of Linux HD partitions shows :;):

)

I couldn't find a way to create a 'swap' in cfdisk, and I only created a 300mb partition because I was following the installation guidelines to the word.

Could you please advise?

I'm guessing I should delete these partitions and create, say, just a 20GB primary boot partition and install DSL onto that? {Or do I need to reserve some space for a 'swap' partition and, if so, how much?}

Sorry to be a pain. I'm eager to learn, but currently quite clueless about a few things!

Posted by curaga on July 18 2008,08:32

You create a swap partition by creating a normal one, and then selecting "Type" and then selecting 82 (the list shows all partition types you can create).
edit: after creating you do need to format it with mkswap /dev/XXX

I'd say one big partition for DSL Hd install and a small one for swap. How much ram do you have?

Posted by nogoodreason on July 18 2008,08:45

Quote (curaga @ July 18 2008,08:32)

I'd say one big partition for DSL Hd install and a small one for swap. How much ram do you have?

Currently 128mb SDRAM (reckon it's worth opening it up and trying to add a little more?)

I intend to use this system almost exclusively for surfing the net, and don't really plan to store anything big on the hard drive, so I'd have no problem with making quite a large swap file if it would improve performance.

Posted by curaga on July 18 2008,09:21

It doesn't really improve performance, just prevents crashing when Firefox wants more memory than your ram. So, you should make a swap partition twice your ram (2.4 kernel thing) but no larger.

128mb is plenty for DSL, but firefox might like more.

Posted by nogoodreason on July 18 2008,12:14

Okay, I've now got two partitions:

hda1 - primary, Linux SWAP, 500mb

hda2 - Boot, primary, Linux, 19.5GB (with DSL installed)

Installed with GRUB.

While everything runs fine, I still have the problem of nothing being changed. (I'm testing this by logging on, changing the background, then rebooting - every time the background has reverted back to the default)

Surely, if this is truly installed, it shouldn't keep giving me the 'getting started with DSL' popup and default background every time I boot up??

Posted by lucky13 on July 18 2008,12:24

Read that document and you'll understand how to stop it from coming up when you login. As far as your background/wallpaper, how are you changing it and are you saving the setting? What version of DSL?

Posted by nogoodreason on July 18 2008,13:11

Quote (lucky13 @ July 18 2008,12:24)

I'm changing the background by going into Control Panel/Background Selector, clicking on a new background, hitting 'Try It' and then hitting 'Install'.

On the right-hand side of the screen are the words:
"Linux 2.4.31 on i686
Host: box
User: dsl "
(I'm assuming that might be the version number)

The machine is currently not connected to the Internet, but I can connect it and try to update if you think that might fix the problem.

Posted by Juanito on July 18 2008,13:14

If the kernel version is 2.4.31, then you have dsl-4.x - you can find the version number from the control panel "system stats" button, it is at the top of the screen displayed.

If you want any changes you made to be saved then you need to use the control panel "backup/restore" button.

Posted by nogoodreason on July 18 2008,13:25

Quote (Juanito @ July 18 2008,13:14)

If you want any changes you made to be saved then you need to use the control panel "backup/restore" button.

Oooh, fantastic. I went to Control Panel and 'backup/restore' and typed 'hda2' in the box. It now seems to be remembering things. Thanks very much!

Okay, one last query and then I promise to stop bugging you guys for a while:

1) What changes do I need to make to the GRUB in order for it to just automatically load 'DSL fb1024x768' instead of bringing up that menu each time I boot.

2) I realise that, to get rid of the 'getting started with DSL' popup, I need to edit the .xinitrc file. But where is it??

Many, many thanks to everyone who has responded. Your input has been greatly appreciated.

Posted by Juanito on July 18 2008,13:50

Quote

I realise that, to get rid of the 'getting started with DSL' popup, I need to edit the .xinitrc file. But where is it??

/home/dsl/.xinitrc - open a terminal window, enter "beaver /home/dsl/.xinitrc" and you will be able to edit the file.

Note that the "." in ".xinitrc" makes the file "hidden", the "file open" menu in beaver will not show it and emelfm will not show the file unless you click on the "H" button.

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on July 18 2008,18:21

1. edit menu.lst - how you do it depends on what kind of installation you did. In general, for frugal installations you can do something like `sudo beaver /cdrom/boot/grub/menu.lst `

2. In addition to the above answer: in most cases, the terminal emulator will start in ~ (which would be /home/dsl) so you can just enter something like `beaver .xinitrc ` as the startup doc suggests.